Database Research Guide

When beginning research in an unfamiliar area of law, it is often unclear which databases contain the proper information. To help you begin your research, this guide organizes legal databases available from the Belmont College of Law.

Foreign Law Guide - The Foreign Law Guide contains information on primary and secondary sources of foreign law, including full-text sources of foreign legislation in English translation.

Foreign and International Law Resource Database - Includes the publications of the American Society of International Law along with prominent Yearbooks from around the world, including the Hague Permanent Court of International Justice series. It also includes U.S. Law Digests, International Tribunals/Judicial Decisions and more.

Index to Foreign Legal Periodicals – Provides in-depth coverage of public and private international law, comparative and foreign law, and the law of all jurisdictions other than the United States, the UK, Canada, and Australia.

History of International Law - Contains more than 1,000 titles and 800,000 pages dating back to 1690 on subjects such as: War & Peace, Nuremberg Trials, Law of the Sea, International Arbitration, and Hague Conferences and Conventions.

LLMC - Includes over 6,000 titles in more than 73,000 volumes (over 45 million pages) covering historical materials in both the United States and a range of foreign jurisdictions.

Oxford International Encyclopedia of Peace - This multivolume encyclopedia charts the interdisciplinary field of Peace Studies, offering a comprehensive survey of the full range of historical, political, theoretical and philosophical issues relating to peace and conflict.

Encyclopedia of Human Rights - This five-volume encyclopedia offers comprehensive coverage of all aspects of human rights theory, practice, law, and history in over 300 entries signed by leading scholars and human rights experts.

Parker School of Foreign & Comparative Law - Includes more than 50 publications from the prestigious Parker School of Foreign & Comparative Law at Columbia Law School. Includes the 22-volume set, A Bibliography on Foreign and Comparative Law.

Canada Supreme Court Reports- Contains the official, bilingual series including more than 9,400 cases which include background information, statutes and regulations, authors cited, analysis and the decision.

Revised Statutes of Canada - Complete coverage of all six revisions from the official printed volumes of the Revised Statutes of Canada in nearly 48,000 pages.

Early American Case Law - Contains the entire Federal Cases 30 book series (1894-1897) which contains more than 20,000 cases. Also included is the Trinity Series, which includes American Decisions, American Reports, and American State Reports.

Early American Imprints – This collection contains virtually every book, pamphlet and broadside published in America from the colonial period to the early 19th century.

State Statutes: A Historical Archive - Includes superseded state statutes for all fifty states. Search the statutes by state, date, description and text. Coverage goes back until 1717.

State Reports: A Historical Archive – Provides a state-by-state guide to published court reports and how they relate to the National Reporter System, as well as providing links to the full text of historical state reports.

LLMC - Includes over 6,000 titles in more than 73,000 volumes (over 45 million pages) covering historical materials in both the United States and a range of foreign jurisdictions.

English Reports – Contains English case law from the years 1220 through 1867.

U.S. Code - This collection includes complete coverage of the United States Code dating back to inception in 1925-1926. Also includes the Early Federal Laws Collection, which represents the most complete collection of federal statute compilations prior to the US Code.

History of International Law - Contains more than 1,000 titles and 800,000 pages dating back to 1690 on subjects such as: War & Peace, Nuremberg Trials, Law of the Sea, International Arbitration, and Hague Conferences and Conventions.

Women and the Law - A collection that brings together books, biographies and periodicals dedicated to women’s roles in society and the law. This unique collection of materials provides a platform to research the progression of women’s roles and rights in society over the past 200 years.

History of Supreme Court Nominations - Includes hundreds of articles, hearings, documents, and titles to create a historical database of some of the most influential Supreme Court Justices to serve in the United States. The “Browse by Justice” option allows you to see relevant works related to that Justice including links to articles and a bibliography of other works, along with links to Scholarly Articles.

Taxation and Economic Reform in America - This historical archive contains more than 4,000 volumes and one million pages of legislative history materials and other documents. It includes the complete Carlton Fox Collection which contains nearly 42 years of historical legislation related to the internal revenue laws from 1909-1950. It includes more than 100 other legislative histories related to taxation, economic reform, and stimulus plans.

History of Bankruptcy - This library includes legislative histories, treatises, documents and more related to bankruptcy law in America. It also includes classic books dating back to the late 1800s and links to scholarly articles that are related to the study of bankruptcy in America.

Making of Modern Law: Primary Sources I and II – Primary Sources I, 1620-1926, is a digital archive of the published records of the American colonies, documents published by state constitutional conventions, state codes, city charters, law dictionaries, digests and more. Primary Sources II, 1763-1970, supports far-reaching research in legal and social history, from the 18th century to the era following World War II and consists of United States state and territorial codes, municipal codes, and constitutional convention and compilations.

Foreign Relations of the United States - This series presents the official documentary historical record of major U.S. foreign policy decisions and significant diplomatic activity. It is comprised of more than 600 books beginning with Abraham Lincoln's administration in 1861 and continuing to the administration of Jimmy Carter in 1980.

Immigration Law and Policy in the U.S. - This collection is a compilation of the most important historical documents and legislation related to immigration in the United States as well as current hearings, debates and recent developments in immigration law.

Pentagon Papers – Contains the complete United States Department of Defense history of the United States' political-military involvement in Vietnam from 1945 to 1967.

U.S. Congressional Documents- This collection features the complete Congressional Record Bound version, as well as the daily version back to 1980. It also includes the three predecessor titles: Annals of Congress (1789-1824), Register of Debates (1824-1837) Congressional Globe (1833-1873), and Congressional Hearings (1927-2012), as well as other important congressional material. Using the Daily-to-Bound Locator Tool, you can quickly find a page in the Bound volume from the Daily edition.

﻿Journals and Law Reviews

HeinOnline Law Journal Library - Contains more than 1,900 law and law-related periodicals. Search by article title, author, subject, state or country published, keyword, or date.

LegalTrac - Provides indexing for more than 1,500 major law reviews, legal newspapers, specialty publications, Bar Association journals and international legal journals, including more than 250 titles in full text.

Index to Foreign Legal Periodicals – Provides in-depth coverage of public and private international law, comparative and foreign law, and the law of all jurisdictions other than the United States, the UK, Canada, and Australia.

ProQuest Legislative Insight – Excellent source for obtaining complete legislative histories when the bill you are researching has been passed into law. Searching by name or public law number (e.g., 107-110, the No Child Left Behind Act) retrieves all documents associated with this act in full-text PDF format.

ProQuest Congressional – Provides selected full-text for Congressional Committee Prints, House and Senate Documents and Reports, Hearings, and Legislative Histories. It also provides access to the Code of Federal Regulations, Federal Register, and the Congressional Record.

LexisNexis State Capitol – Includes legislative history material for all fifty states, including bills and laws, constitutions, proposed and enacted regulations, legislature membership, and newspapers of record.

Intellectual Property Law Collection – Includes legislative histories, treatises, documents, classics, and more relating to copyrights, patents, and trademarks. Notable titles include: Legislative History of the 1909 Copyright Act (1976), Kamenstein Legislative History Project: A Compendium and Analytical Index of Materials Leading to the Copyright Act of 1976, and William Robinson's Law of Patents for Useful Inventions. This library also features CFR Title 37, U.S. Code Titles 17 & 35, Manual of Patent Examining Procedure, and more.

﻿Treaty Research

U.S. Treaties and Agreements Library - This library includes all U.S. treaties, whether currently in-force, expired, or not yet officially published. Includes such prominent collections as the “United States Treaties and Other International Agreements” set (commonly referred to as the "Blue set"), as well as famous sets from Bevans, Miller, Malloy and others.

United Nations Law Collection - This collection contains exact reproductions of major United Nations legal publications, including the complete collection of the United Nations Treaty Series, the League of Nations Treaty Series, and the Monthly Statement of Treaties & International Agreements. Search by UNTS citation or keyword.

﻿United States Supreme Court Research

U.S. Supreme Court Library - Complete coverage of the official U.S. Reports bound volumes as well as preliminary prints, slip opinions, and books and periodicals related to the U.S. Supreme Court are included in this library.

History of Supreme Court Nominations - Includes hundreds of articles, hearings, documents, and titles to create a historical database of some of the most influential Supreme Court Justices to serve in the United States. The “Browse by Justice” option allows you to see relevant works related to that Justice including links to articles and a bibliography of other works, along with links to Scholarly Articles.